Escape from Chernobyl

This is purely an 'escape the room' game with 6 chapters and 3 alternate endings (each with its own set of puzzles). The backstory is told through on-screen text. Most of the puzzles are reasonable but a pencil and paper are definitely required. Some clues change each time you restart a chapter, while some remain the same. Much of the game is trial and error, figuring out the order of things to avoid getting killed. Each time you are killed, the chapter restarts and there is no save system. In the later chapters, there are some puzzles that require 20+ clicks in a specific order. I got killed multiple times in these chapters so I had to repeat these puzzles and was glad that I had recorded each click sequence on paper. I played through the first ending without too much trouble. I started the second and third endings. The clues for the second ending did not make sense to me so I jumped to the third ending and found it just as obtuse. I meant to reset Chapter 6 and accidentally reset the entire game (sigh...an 'are you sure' alert might have been nice). I replayed from the beginning and have remained stuck trying to solve the puzzles for the second and third endings for severa…

You, a sort-of-scientist man, are in the middle of the Chernobyl disaster. Radiation, explosions, mutants, military men, and computers are wreaking havoc. Can you survive at the center of this disaster? Probably not. But after you keep not surviving, eventually you will. [b][u]The Good[/u][/b]: [list] [*]Adventure game with escape room elements. [*]I’m biased here, but I enjoy adventure games that have a dark or horror element. This one does. [*]You have to actually use your brain. When you get to the final chapter, you have to be like Batman. [*]The puzzles are challenging. I wish HOGs were this tricky. [*]I had a constant feeling of unease while playing this, but in a good way. I felt like something was waiting behind me every time I went through a door. Was that the game or me running out of meds? I don’t know. [/list] [b][u]The Neutral[/u][/b]: [list] [*]The game’s visuals look like photographs of real locations/objects that were sort of drawn over. [*]It’s an adventure game where you will die—a lot. And when you do die, you have to start over. [*]There are 6 chapters you can play and there is a level select. [/list] [b][u]The Bad[/u][/b]: [list] [*]There is only one musical…

I bought this game when it was 70% off (only $0.89), but it still feels like a waste of my money. The premise is interesting, which is why I got it in the first place, and the art style, while not anything great, reminds me of old 2000s point & click games which is sort of nostalgic. Aside from that, though, there's very little to enjoy about it. I quit halfway through chapter 3. While the game does have an English translation, the quality of said translation is very low. I managed to understand the basic plot points (explosion at Chernobyl, [spoiler]some guy kidnaps you for an experiment[/spoiler], [spoiler]monstrous result of previous experiment kills other scientists and tries to kill you[/spoiler]), but most of the text makes no sense. Nelset seems to be a small team, so I don't expect them to have a bunch of people dedicated solely to translating, but... come on. "All the internets of the siedenas"? What on earth is that supposed to mean?! The puzzles aren't too bad, if you know what you're doing. The thing is, I didn't know what I was doing for a lot of it. I'm not talking trial and error, where I kept dying and having to restart; though I'm not the most patient person for …

I love everything about Escape from Chernobyl from the 80s style art to the imperfect translations which are funny in places and the outlandish story! I even don't mind the voices being text to speech. This game is just the right amount of difficulty for those that enjoy puzzles. I plan to play Jailbreak at some point and look forward to more from the devs.

The puzzles get harder with every level, and the community is too small to help with hints. I liked level 1, level 2 was fine, and then by level 5 it was unplayable for me.

It's a nice puzzle game; however, the only thing that bothers me is the Sakharov safe on chapter 5. I think it's too much of a luck to get the switches to line up, and not that much skill is required. A waste of time in my opinion. Regardless, a fun game and couple of euros well spent.